“You have seen, O Lord; be not silent! O Lord, be not far from me! Awake and rouse yourself for my vindication, for my cause, my God and my Lord! Vindicate me, O Lord, my God, according to your righteousness, and let them not rejoice over me! Let them not say in their hearts, “Aha, our heart’s desire!” Let them not say, “We have swallowed him up.”” -Psalm 35:22–25
In verse 21, David recounts how the wicked give false testimony saying, “Aha, Aha! Our eyes have seen it!”” And he responds saying, You have seen, O Lord; be not silent!” David is petitioning the Lord to speak up on his behalf, to testify to the truth of the matter since he has witnessed it all.
At the core of David’s prayer is a desire to be vindicated according to the righteous standard of justice. This serves as a model for believers today to not try to vindicate oneself as it always leads to sin. James reminds us that “the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God” (James 1:20).
As does Paul in his letter to the church at Rome, writing, “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”” -Romans 12:19
When we turn vengeance over to God, we are free to flourish in the vocation to which we are called. Because God is the only one who sees everything, knows everything, and is all wise, vengeance can only be God’s work; not ours. We are not equipped to carry out vengeance justly. To try and carry it out ourselves would be like trying to perform an appendectomy on someone when we are not a surgeon. It is guaranteed to be a messy failure.
It’s better to leave some things to those who are best equipped for the work so we can do the work that is meant for us; and when we pray for God to vindicate us that’s exactly what we are doing—turning the work over to the professional.